RAGHVANSH'S POV :
2 hours later [23rd September, same day]

"Raghvan and Kaushal Beta just ask for whatever you want, don't be shy. Okay???" Hriddan uncle says as politely as ever only for me to shake my head in a no for the millionth time this night.

But it encourages the big time extrovert and yapper Kaushal to go back to the dinning table and he starts chatting with both uncle and aunty again—to which I can't help but let out a laugh.

How is it so easy for him to make others like him to fast?? Like he instantly becomes friends with anyone and everyone. I mentally take a note to ask him later about what they were speaking about, you know I need to know about them—to impress them.

Which reminds me of someone else—the person that I hope is impressed by me right now.

Watching everybody engrossed in whatever conversation has been going on at the table, I silently grab my phone and move towards the room at the other next to the staircase.

I go up half way, leaning against rail of one of the stairs, now switching on my phone only to see multiple messages lined up—by you must have guessed who.

The grin on my face only makes it obvious.

Pihu : bonus + 2 points in the first raid itself, you really are crazy Ansh

Pihu : okayyy it's alright...do or die raids are always so hectic, one point isn't that much of a big deal. Don't be disappointed plss!!! You tried your best.

Pihu : first all out of the season for us yayyy, you know whenever we go all out in the first half we win the match? this means we're obviously clearing Bengaluru okay???

Pihu : did you just freaking super tackle Nakamura Hikari I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES ANSH

Pihu : first half done! the score isn't bad, k? Still have 20 minutes left

Pihu : damn I should've know Delhi Warriors is the only team that are capable of coming back into the game this way. You should see how flabbergasted everyone in hostel is right now

Pihu : You tackled kaushal singhania nooo. Ansh ya you did this knowing he's my favv, not more than you so I'll let it slide this once :/

Pihu : I KNEW WE WOULD WIN THIS OKAYY I TOLD YOU RIGHT? And I'm not going to let you off until you show me how you did that last raid move got it???

I cover my face with my hand giggle wholeheartedly.

Ugh. Can she seriously stop being so adorable? This is not healthy for me.

The next few text are of her saying congratulations over and over and how she was so nervous during the last five minutes. I read the next few messages—she informs me about seeing me on the screen along side Utkarsh, Aaraya and her parents. It doesn't take much to know that she's very joyous about it, but she spells it out yet again.

I don't take another minute and tap on the phone call button on the top of our chat window. I really do hope she's free right now.

She picks up instantly and I can sense her excitement at the sudden giggle from the other side.

"You're free, right?"

"Always for you, Captain Raghvansh Birla," she says in the sweetest voice possible—as if her words aren't enough to kill me. Is she flirting???

Aren't you a bit too optimistic, Raghvan.

Her voice breaks my bubble as she chuckles again, "I'm free for a few minutes. Are you still with everyone?"

My dumbass nods as if Piha can see me, "yes, just got done with dinner. I kind of snuck out to text you—I miss you so much you know. Can you come back to Pune already dammit??" I can't help but say in absolute desperation.

Can you have some self-respect, Raghvansh fucking Birla. My internals say only for me to ignore them yet again.

Self respect? In front of Piha? She's literally my other half.

"This is so unfair ya Ansh. The only time I come back to Pune, you won't be here. Ahh...it's been more than a month since we've met, all I want to do is hold you for like a good 5 minutes and not let you go." Little does she know.

Anyways, woah.

She's been a little direct for weeks now, but I can't help but go into teenage lover boy mode again—biting back my smile now, but I fail. It might be around 6 months since I've known her but I still cannot control my heart around her. This is seriously crazy, like I need to conduct a detailed research on this.

Anyways not wasting the couple of minutes that's left, I reply almost playfully, "Venus, this is not done you know right??? Saying all this cheesy stuff when I'm around Uncle and Aunty. What if they find out about us?"

I hear a hmm and after a few seconds of pause, she replies, "they'll find out about it sooner or later, Raghvansh. It was fine back when they didn't know about you being Utkarsh's brother. Now they do Ansh, and we'll be family soon but do you think all this time—we can act nonchalant as if we've never met before when you come by or when Mom Dad are around?"

Now hearing this from her concerns me but also relaxes me weirdly. Hey!! Atleast I'm not the only one who feels that way.

"I don't think we'll be able to do that, Venus. I don't even want to put up this whole act of being strangers with you, but at the same time I know it's going to be a very lengthy conversation with them on your end. We can do it together too, if you want me to join. What do you think about it?"

"Ansh I'm telling them about a friend, not about marrying someone! Tu pn na (you also na)." Ouch. Right.

We're just friends.

I'm definitely not gonna cry myself to sleep over this.

I just hmm and hear from her side, "I'll tell them in bits, okay?? Maybe I'll tell them about being your doctor first, since they'll understand that I initially couldn't tell them about it because of the non-disclosure contract." To which I agree as it sounds good, "got it Venus. I'll play along when we meet. Tell me how your conversation with them goes, k??"

"Yes I'll inform you prior to telling them. Don't worry about it, it's going to be alright! Also it's pretty late right now—around half past 11. Just stay at home, hmm? It's gonna be a bother to go back to hotel + you won't be able to take rest properly before your flight tomorrow. You're not exhausting yourself too much right? It'll affect your injury directly. Give your knee some time to recover too." She says and I can imagine her worried expressions as the same drips from her voice.

My heart obviously warms up at all the concern, ugh, but a part of me is still like you need to stop always making her worried over your injury, just take care of yourself for her.

"I'm doing well, Venus. I've also resumed physiotherapy, so don't worry about me. You already have so much stress from college and residency, just be relaxed when you're with me or talking to me. And to answer your question, yes I'm staying the night, Uncle and Aunty insisted a lot + it feels so good to finally be around everyone now, so I'm definitely going to make the most out of it."

We both share a short laugh before she quickly fills me in about her plans about going to the library and studying a few hours with Quadir, Khushi and Haider. I wish her luck for the same.

"Okay, I'll let you go now, even tho I don't want to...you've probably caught onto that. Give me a call before lecture tomorrow morning though. You know I can't have a good or great morning without talking to you, right? Anyways miss you, my Venus." She giggles at the same and mumbles a good night in hurry.

I can't help but smile mindlessly at nothing specific as I cut the call to be redirected to our chat window.

My lovely thoughts are disturbed—more like my body shutters at the sudden voice on it's accord, only to find a 6 foot tall muscular guy crossing his arms and staring right into my eyes—leaning against the bottommost stair railing.

"I always thought you were hideous, Raghvansh Birla."

Not again.

NOT FREAKING RAHUL SINGHANIA AGAIN.

NOT AFTER HE SAW ME AND PIHA IN MY DELHI HOTEL ROOM.

"Care to explain who this Venus is...or should I just ask Pihu?"

——————————————

[20 minutes later]
P&A's room (now Piha's bedroom)

My mind itself is split apart as I stare back at the guy—maybe not with the same intensity, but well.

A part of me is grateful is that he is protective of Piha, even if I'm not around one day atleast the people around her will make sure that she is with someone that deserves her and most importantly...that she's happy.

But my other cerebral hemisphere is sceptical on whether I deserve to scrutinised like this. Me? Raghvansh Birla??

We get it the man, the myth, the legend. Can you stop being a narcissistic bitch and clarify that you were infact talking to Piha.

Well yes...that needs to be done firstly.

I hear the knob twist and see Kaushal walk-in to which I just sigh in relief. He passes me a knowing nod and on the other hand—I receive another glare from his boyfriend.

Let me summarise what happened I half an hour back.

Kaushal interrupted us saying that everyone was retiring to their rooms and we could have our conversation up here. The reason why he had to join us later was because he had to get a change of clothes from Utkarsh for the night.

And yes, unfortunately about that—I have to share a room with this clingy ass couple. Even though there's 2 beds—both pretty spacious by themselves...I don't how patient I can be around Rahul.

Thankfully atleast Kaushal is here now and he specifically asked Rahul to not start talking until he was back in the room—to which I just smirked watching Rahul's baffled reactions.

I knew I always needed Kaushal's help in this lifetime but never thought it would be in a scenario like this.

The pair finally settles down in the other bed placed perpendicular to mine as if this is a court hearing. The contrast in their expressions makes me feel even more nervous. KAUSHAL DO SOMETHING DAMMIT, THAT'S YOUR MAN.

Instead Rahul says, "I have nothing to say to you Raghvansh, just for god's sake leave Piha alone...If you want to mess around with anyone it's not going to be her. She came all the way from Chandigarh to meet you that day and you can't even respect her this much. Are you guys dating?? Who was on the phone call?? Are you seeing someone behind Piha's back???"

Woah.

Ouch.

Piha was right. This guy isn't easy to deal with. Maybe that's why she told me only she could explain everything to Rahul.

Great.

Now he thinks I'm cheating on Venus.

I get why he would think about it that way since he eavesdropped our call...but regardless he could've asked me just once.

I sigh and take out my phone from pocket in absolute defeat. It's not like he's going to believe me anyways if I tell him the truth.

Opening my chat window with Pihu, I hand him the phone.

the first notification in sight says voice call 6:03 minutes at 11:25 which was around the same time he heard me. A couple of messages follow after the call.

Pihu : reached library but no one else is here yet :/
Pihu : okayy they're here! I'll switch off my phone in 2 minutes. Good night, Ansh <3

me : yes piha
me : have a great session and don't stay up for too long
me : good night my Venus

Pihu : yes I won't. Sleep well!

I hear Kaushal dramatically gasp as he doesn't bother to hide his grin, "going well, Raghvan." To which I can't help but blush.

Yes it is obviously. It has to.

My chain of thoughts is disturbed as Rahul suddenly roars, "what the hell are you talking about, Kaushal?!"

The said guy stutters and pouts at his boyfriend and Rahul then mumbles an apology–pushing his lips to his lover's forehead.

Okay why are they kinda...cute???

"So you guys aren't dating, it's just that...you like her? Also Venus is Piha?" I nod at Rahul's words.

Huff. He finally connected the dots.

His looks give away that he's probably doing some calculations in his mind as he says, "yeah...so you're trying to move on. Right?"

WHATTTT?

I need him to tell me that he was joking because this can't be real right?? Like why would I try to move on from Pihu? MY VENUS??

Does he think my love for Piha is at a level from where 'I can move on' and pretend that I never liked her...even that phrase is kind of haunting me.

"Literally where did you get that from dude??? I. LOVE. PIHA. Neither am I trying to move on nor do I want to. Just take your words back, can you?? Right freaking now. Rahul, are you hearing me??"

This bastard has the audacity to pass me a look of disbelief, "What else is that supposed to mean then?? You want to date Piha?" He chuckles bitterly. "Raghvansh, Piha is not from the same world as you. Haven't you thought about the future of your 'dating plans'?"

This coming from him of all people. I have to chuckle at his hypocrisy.

"Rahul. Let me guess your boyfriend's profession..." I take a pregnant pause to stare at the said person, "oh wait it's the same as mine. Now bother to tell me your 'future plans', or do you not have any?" I can't help but spit whatever comes in my mind in pure anger. I feel pretty sad for saying this stuff in front of Kaushal. I know that they're serious...but this is the only way to get Rahul to speak the truth–the actual reason he doesn't want me and Piha to be together.

Is it Roman??

I did except him to grab me by the collar but instead he just lets out a laugh, a sarcastic one obviously, "those future plans are exactly why I know how it's going to be a few years down the lane, Raghvansh Birla. It takes a lot of courage to even prepare myself for what the future is holding for me."

"This meeting once in a couple of months, both of us having a hectic schedule, the humongous difference in our lives when it comes to every goddamn thing–be it fame, money, field, family, past, our lifestyle. And when the country finds out about your partner...then what? They are the centre of attention for everything that happens to you. The media and people will dehumanise your partner, they'll make up all sorts of rumours about you to the point it'll fuck you up."

"I might have prepared myself for it, but do you think Piha will be able to adjust to that? Don't you think she's gone through enough when she lost Roman? She doesn't deserve this. Let it go Raghvansh. Consider her as nothing but a happy memory. Please. I'm begging you...not as Rahul Kapoor but as someone who she considers her brother. Can you do that for her? For the happiness of your both–"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP RAHUL. Piha will never be a memory to me—she's my entire freaking life! I'll try my hardest to bridge these gaps, these differences that are between us but to admire and be alongside each other even with all these differences is what makes our relation special. It makes us US, and I wouldn't trade it for the entire goddamn universe!"

"Yes it's going to be scary when the world finds out sooner or later—but we'll get through it eventually. I know, I really do know that we're strong enough for that."

"You're underestimating Venus. She's literally the strongest woman I've seen—actually I wish I was as strong as her.Even the thought of her not being in my life gives me nightmares. I don't want to live that black&white life again, please...you don't understand how scary it is. Being together might make us go insane but I'm not going to give or take that pain of being apart which, obviously is impossible. I promised Pihu that I'll be in her life forever and let me tell you Rahul—I do not plan on breaking it."

"For the first time in 30 years—I have been confident in what I want."

"And I am going to be selfish."

~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE :

Hello! Sorry for the late update. Knew I said I would upload this chapter last week but it took me a lottt of time to write this last part (also the chapter is almost 3k words long). Hope it was good!

Hint about the next chapter : it's going to be Piha's POV from her college.

Anyways let me know how the story is going ;) stay safe and don't forget to vote!